Name and Location
Mount Morgan gold/copper/pyrite project, Queensland, Australia.

Client
Carbine Resources.

Project Description
A scoping study completed on Mount Morgan has defined the potential for a long-life, low-cost operation.

The study defines a one-million-tonne-a-year operation over a minimum eight-year mine life. The nominated mine life includes only the processing of all Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resources at the site and does not include the current exploration target of 32-million tonnes to 40-million tonnes grading 0.67 g/t to 0.79 g/t of gold and 0.11% to 0.19% copper.

The proposed operation will produce three saleable products – gold, copper and pyrite.

The proposed tailings operation is primarily about materials handling and minerals processing rather than physical mining activities.

The mineralised tailings comprise material that has been moved and/or treated during past operations and is now stockpiled in dumps or behind tailings retaining walls.

The scoping study proposes dry mining using a loader and truck operation, thereby providing a simple and cost-effective method for extracting and delivering feed material to the plant. Hydraulic mining will also be assessed during further studies.

A small amount of overburden is located in the Mundic Gully and Red Oxide areas, which will be progressively removed during mining operations. Other tailings require no overburden stripping.

The scoping study contemplates a one-million-tonne-a-year-capacity tailings processing plant. The plant will be operated 24/7 for 90% of the time, accounting for availability and use.

Processing will comprise a polishing grind, with no crushing required, and classification from 150 μm to 75 μm, followed by a three-stage process to extract copper, gold and pyrite resources.

Copper will initially be recovered using the simple ion exchange and electrowinning of a leached liquor from the tailings slurry, producing on average 850 t/y of copper cathode. Gold will then be extracted from the copper-free slurry using a conventional carbon-in-leach circuit, producing an average of 36 000 oz/y. Pyrite concentrate, averaging 230 000 t/y, can then be recovered from the barren tailings using a conventional flotation circuit.

Metallurgical testwork to date on a composite of the Mundic tailings has shown the flowsheet is amenable to producing recoveries of 78% gold, 56% copper and 91% pyrite from the tailings material.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
Capital costs for mine development have been estimated at $81.9-million, based on construction using new equipment, and includes allowances for all engineering, procurement, construction and management costs, excluding owner’s costs and contingencies. There is significant upside to reduce capital costs using the Kundana carbon-in-pulp plant, which is being progressively acquired by Carbine from Norton Gold Fields.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Carbine Resources has launched a prefeasibility study (PFS) on its Mount Morgan copper and gold project.

The study is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year and will be used to expedite the bankable feasibility study.

Meanwhile, Carbine signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with sulphur product distributor Jainson Labs India in March to develop formal offtake agreements for pyrite concentrate from the project.

The Jainson MoU followed a conditional pyrite offtake agreement with industrial mineral distributor Talana, signed in January. Under that agreement, Talana could source between 200 000 t/y and 300 000 t/y of pyrite from the Mt Morgan project.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Carbine Resources, tel +61 8 6142 0986, fax +61 8 9388 8824 or email carbine@carbineresources.com.au.